Abstract
Several investigations report a greater prevalence of depressive and anxious symptoms and emotional distress in girls compared to boys. Furthermore, the scientific literature points out that females show lower psychological well-being levels compared to males. Since, in the most of these studies, participants were already out of adolescence or were adults and aging individuals, the aim of this investigation is to explore gender differences in the levels of psychological well-being and distress during adolescence, one of the most controversial periods of human life. Five hundred and seventy-two adolescents (313 females, 259 males; mean age 13.63 years, SD = 1.94) were recruited from various middle and high schools in Northern Italy, which volunteered to participate in the study. Subjects were administered the following self-rating scales: (1) Psychological Well-Being (PWB) Scales, (2) Symptom Questionnaire (SQ). Student t-test was used to analyze gender differences in PWB and SQ scores. Gender differences in psychological well-being levels were not found, even if on- test females tend to report lower scores in Self-Acceptance scale (PWB) than males. Girls reported higher levels of distress than boys. t-Test indicated significant gender differences in all SQ scales, except in friendliness. On retest, results were very similar. Females scored significantly higher than males in all SQ scales, except in contentment, where females reported better levels compared to previous data. This investigation points out that females reported higher levels of distress than males, but unlike the preceding studies, it also highlights that girls showed similar levels of psychological well-being compared to boys. These results suggest that adolescence is a period of the life with peculiar characteristics in boys and girls and that further investigations are needed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abela, J. (2001). The hopelessness theory of depression: A test of the diathesis–stress and causal mediation components in third and seventh grade children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 241–254.
Baron, B., & Campbell, T. L. (1993). Gender differences in the expression of depressive symptoms in middle adolescence: An extension of earlier findings. Adolescence, 28, 903–911.
Boggiano, A. K., & Barret, M. (1991). Gender differences in depression in college students. Sex Roles, 25, 595–609.
Cyranowski, J. M., Frank, E., Young, E., & Shear, M. K. (2000). Adolescent onset and the gender difference in lifetime rates of major depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 21–27.
Galambos, N. L., Barker, E. T., & Krahn, H. J. (2006). Depression, self-esteem and gender in emerging adulthood: seven-year trajectories. Developmental Psyhchology, 42, 350–365.
Goldbeck, L., Schmitz, T. G., Besier, T., Herschbach, P., & Henrich, G. (2007). Life satisfaction decreases during adolescence. Quality of Life Research, 16, 969–979.
Hand, C. G., Archer, R. P., Handel, R. W., & Forbey, J. D. (2007). The classification accuracy of the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory–adolescent: Effects of modifying the normative sample. Assessment, 14, 80–85.
Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2001). Development of gender differences in depression: An elaborated cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 773–796.
Hendriks, A. A. J., Kuyper, H., Offringa, G. J., & Van der Werf, M. P. C. (2008). Assessing young adolescents’ personality with the five-factor personality inventory. Assessment, 15, 304–316.
Kellner, R. (1987). Symptom questionnaire. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 48, 269–274.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Girgus, J., & Seligman, M. (1992). Predictors and consequences of childhood depressive symptoms: A 5-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 405–422.
Ruini, C., Ottolini, F., Rafanelli, C., Ryff, C. D., & Fava, G. A. (2003a). La validazione italiana delle Psychological Well-being Scale (PWB). Rivista di Psichiatria, 38(3), 117–130.
Ruini, C., Ottolini, F., Rafanelli, C., Tossani, E., Ryff, C. D., & Fava, G. A. (2003b). The relationship of psychological well-being to distress and personality. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 72, 268–275.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141–166.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Exploration on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1083.
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719–727.
Sapin, C., Simeoni, M. C., El Khammar, M., Antoniotti, S., & Auquier, P. (2005). Reliability and validity of the VSP-A, a health-related quality of life instrument for ill and healthy adolescents. Journal of Adolescents Health, 36, 327–336.
Simeoni, M. C., Auquier, P., Antoniotti, S., Sapin, C., & San Marco, J. L. (2000). Validation of a French health-related quality of life instrument for adolescents: The VSP-A. Quality of Life Research, 9, 393–440.
Spence, S. H. (2001). Prevention strategies. In M. W. Vasey & M. R. Dadds (Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Steca, P., Ryff, C. D., D’Alessandro, S., & Delle Fratte, A. (2002). Il benessere psicologico: Differenze di genere e di età nel contesto italiano. Psicologia della Salute, 2, 121–138.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Visani, D., Albieri, E., Offidani, E., Ottolini, F., Tomba, E., Ruini, C. (2011). Gender Differences in Psychological Well-Being and Distress During Adolescence. In: Brdar, I. (eds) The Human Pursuit of Well-Being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1375-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1375-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1374-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1375-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)